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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Nostalgic scenery of early summer at Asuka Village

When I took these pictures in late June right after the farmers finished planting rice seedlings to the paddies, it was relatively cool with rainfall on and off. In two weeks, it got sweltering in heat as the rainy season came to an early end.

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Hosokawa area

Terraced fields and paddies are common in the countries with vigorous slopes.In Japan, where about 73 percent of land is mountainous with scattered plains and inter-mountain basins only about 25 percent, there are many places noted for the beautiful terraced paddies.Asuka, Nara Prefecture, is one of them. Terraces are farmed by hand.

This is a vantage point overlooking the Hosokawa area.

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There were a lot of terraced paddies throughout Japan, but it has become difficult to keep rice cultivation there because of the drastic drop and aging of agricultural population. To keep the landscape and traditions, which have sustained generations for centuries, some voluntary people have been working with the initiatives by the communities in recent years.

Frequent rainfall is needed by
the farmers during the rice-planting time which falls on the start of the early smmer
rainy season.

I like to see the blue skies in the rice paddies filled with water.

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Hosokawa area in the drizzle

Mosaic-like landscape of rice terraces would be a work of art created by
farmers for the purpose of producing food.The terraces blend in with the natural scenery and give visitors a great
sense of peace and comfort.

One of just another ordinary scenes between the paddies

The Asuka River flows through thousands of years.The locals in the area lead a life that has changed little over the years.

Asuka is one of the most important spiritual and cultural assets of Japan.

38 comments:

Blue skies and clouds hidden in the rice paddies do add a sense of wonderment to the scene. These patterns and creations are truly artistic and as you have said very much like a tapestry that I would gladly have hanging on my wall. Keeping up with agricultural traditions seems to be a challenge everywhere!

I love the shades of green, the entire view is artistic... like a beautiful painting. The step fields are something I have seen in India too, in the mountainous regions and these look similar. And as you said, I could feel the peace descend on me as I read through your post. This is simply beautiful.

Wish you cooler days, Yoko. In India, we are still in the midst of rainy season.

Thanks to you, Yoko, Japan unravels its charm and looks more and more attractive. You are doing a great job! I've seen lots of terraced vineyards and fields in Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal but these "paddies" (thank you for a new word!) are a mystery. Unbelievable how these water mirrors exist on different levels.

Dear Yoko, I almost missed this wonderful post! But now I traveled around that place in all seasons and it is beautiful beyond imagination. It is a paradise, a wonderful landscape - I so wish it could be like that forever! You are a master photographer, all your pictures are perfect and pretty!

Beautiful photos Yoko!The rice terraces look like land sculpture but I'm sure that to most farmers they mean hard work.Everywhere people are leaving the land,they have been doing so for a long time......where will this lead,we must have food but we expect others to produce it for us.Small farms are more in tune with nature and support wildlife but they often don't provide enough income.It's encouraging to know that volunteers are rising to the challenge.Here we are having lovely weather,as you noticed,temperatures mid to late 20's.Scottish weather is unpredictable!

Yoko, I think you live in some kind of fairy world! The rice fields do create a sculptural landscape, like an ancient Roman or Greek theatre. Your pictures are lush and green, so full of beauty. I can see that it would be a spiritual place to visit, to connect with your higher self and feel enlightenment.

What a delightful, lush place. I'm sure that the beauty of the area and the rice paddies belie the hard work that is involved in farming rice. I've not seen terraced rice paddies other than in pictures, but your photos bring them to life. (We had rice paddies south of Houston in Texas - not on terraces, though). Asuka is one of nature's wonders. Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos!

Lois Anne is doing well. We've had a couple of setbacks (fever) but antibiotics took care of that. And our daughter and family came up from south Florida for a few days which was fun as we'd not seen them for over a year! Thank you for caring!

I love the idea that the rice paddies have been created on the steep hillsides of Japan by farmers over thousands of years. I hope that the tradition will continue, in spite of the small and ageing agricultural population. With every one of your blog posts, I want to visit Japan even more. Beautiful pictures!

HiYoko,this time it looks like I'm the last guy on Earth writing a comment unter your post.Always expect the unexpected!;-)I'm right prior my trip to northern Italy, one of the rare regions in Europe where rice is cultivated, too.But the paddy fields in Italy are not that picturesque like the terraced fields in your country. I believe that Italian rice fields are far away from any spirituality! Nevertheless: The Italian rice species, especially cultivated for Italian rice cuisine like 'risotto' are normally of great quality. But certainly there's a big difference between your Japanese and the Italian way, culture and tradition of treating and dealing with rice.Thanks for sharing your wonderful and carefully taken photos of this unique landscape, Yoko.Try to make the best out of your hot summer,Uwe.

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